Diabetes-linked zinc transporter ZnT8 is a homodimeric protein expressed by distinct rodent endocrine cell types in the pancreas and other glands

Abstract

Background and aims: Zinc is abundant in pancreas, being required by endocrine islet cells for hormone secretion and by exocrine acinar cells as pancreatic juice component. ZnT8 is a member of the SLC30A family of zinc transporters whose overexpression in cultured pancreatic β cells leads to increased insulin secretion in response to glucose, suggesting a possible role in regulating glycemia. ZnT8 was therefore proposed as a therapeutic target for diabetes, and recent genome-wide association studies identified polymorphisms in the ZNT8 gene conferring increased type 2 diabetes risk. Methods and results: As limited information was available on the biochemical properties of ZnT8 and on its end..